Can someone give some trip reports from NICK HOTEL

[firemanmedic]

My Wife Wanted Some Trip Reports

 

[graybunch]

We have stayed at the Nick Hotel (in a kids suite) the last summer and in the fall before that and are on our way back in a couple weeks. My kids are crazy about it. The rooms are great. Small suites with small kitchenette that includes mini fridge, microwave and table with a couple of chairs. The living room has a pretty good size flat panel tv on the wall, a glider rocker, and a couch that folds out into a bed (if needed). The bathroom is pretty average, but always has plenty of towels and was very clean. The "parents" room is a private room with a door, queen bed, built in storage and tv. And last but not least is the kids room...you can get bunk beds or twin beds and the decor is great. Rooms have tv, playstaion, small amount of built in storage, and a curtain instead of a door. You can request certain rooms (dora, rugrats, danny phantom, jimmy neutron, and of course spongebob). Unless you book a spongebob room (which cost a little extra) you are not guaranteed any certain room, however we have requested both times in the past and have been accommodated with no problems. The rooms are a little high, but when you consider you are getting a suite, it is not that bad. Also, do make a phone call to the resort before booking a reservation, there is often discounts availalbe that do not show up on Nick.com that may save you some money. The rooms are always clean and we have always had great housekeeping services.

There is a food court in the main building (pizza, subs, burgers) as well as a kids spa (but having 2 boys we have used very little), a small "convenience" type store, a small gift/souvenier shop, a lounge/bar for grown up beverages as well as cute little kids drinks (some look like slime), an arcade, and a couple of restaurants. One of the restaurants has a character breakfast which I recommend depending of the age of your kids. It's a typical character breakfast where the characters come around to each table, pose for photos and do autographs. The only execption is spongebob and patrick and you have to go get in line for them because patrick is too big to get around in the restaurant, but they do take professional photos in front of a cute "bikini bottom" backdrop. The line is short and moves pretty fast. The negative about the character breakfast is you never know what characters are going to be there. Our first time we have Dora, Blues Clues, Wanda and Cosmo (who was a blast!!!) and my kids loved them. The next time we had Dora, Blues Clues, Little Bill and Diego, which was a little young for my kids. Also, one time we had spongebob and patrick and the other time we only got spongebob. So I guess it is kind of hit or miss. It definetely would not hurt to ask about the characters when you make the reservation, but in the past they told us they never know who it will be.

They also offer a parents night out called Nick after Dark, the cost is $60 for the first child and $50 for each additional child (this includes dinner). The ages are 5 to 12 and I believe the hours are 5pm-11pm (don't be late unless you want to pay a heavy fee). We have used this and the counselors are great and enegetic and our kids had a good time. We headed to Universal Citywalk and saw the Blue Man Group and had dinner at Hard Rock. The only negative was we enjoyed the Blue Man Group so much and wished we would have taken the kids to it.....so this year we are going again, with the kids!

The waterparks are a big benefit. They are right there so they are convenient. They are also for hotel guest only and you must have a bracelet. Theming is nice and they do lots of activites at the pools which are very fun. There is a grill at the lagoon pool as well as a bar. The lagoon pool is normally the busiest. It is a pretty good size lagoon style pool and a jungle gym type system right next to it that has the buckets to dump water and things to shoot to get others wet. The jungle gym area also has slides and the large bucket that dumps every so often and does the mass sliming at 4:45. Behind the jungle gym system there is also a little putt putt course which is kind of fun. Also close to the lagoon pool is a little kids splash area that has several different things that spray and a couple of little slides. The other pool area is the oasis. It is a deeper pool that also has a bar area (I'm not sure about food???), a kiddie area and it has a couple of slides. Both pools are fun and they both have activities. We personally prefer the lagoon pool and spend the majority of the time there.

There are some negatives, so be prepared. The pool can get quite crowded even when the hotel is not booked up. Every time we have been to the pool we have had some trouble finding chairs (even in October). Also, it can be a little chaotic when the activites are going on, but don't let that keep you from checking them out. The arcade and the food court can also be quite crowded at times. Another negative is the transportation to Universal Parks. It is scheduled and not continuous. So you will have some time restrictions if you use the buses. The buses also make stops at at least one more if not two more resorts before heading to the park, which can eat up valuable time. But, keep in mind it cost $12 to park at Universal if you arrive before 6:00pm, buses are free (well not free, you are paying the $25 resort fee per day for the privilege of riding the buses). We have never used the transportation to Disney because we always stay on property for our WDW trips so I'm not sure about the buses for Disney. I do know you need to register to use the bus every night before you plan on using it.

Overall, it is a great resort, especially if your kids love Nickelodeon. This hotel is definetely designed to cater to children, so keeping that in mind, it can be a blast. They have lots of scheduled activities and you honestly can stay completely busy at the hotel for days.

I am not the best writer, but hopefully this helps. Because there is so much to do, I definetely have not mentioned eveything, so if you have any other questions, please let me know and I will be glad to help (or offer my opinion).

Good luck on your trip planning,
Jennifer

 

[t-and-a]

You should check out Wendy's (wwessing) trip report. She and her family stayed at the Nick Hotel for the first part of their last vacation. Her report has pics and is extremely detailed. She did a pre-trippie, so I will link you to page 3, where she was actually on vacation.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1790619&page=3